Recommended reading: Charlie Pierce on Tiger Woods

Start with the Globe staffer's explanation, over at Esquire.com, of why Tigergate should come as no surprise. Then read Pierce's 1997 profile of Woods, which does indeed anticipate Woods'  fall from grace:

"I believe that Tiger will break the gospel"--i.e., the myth of Woods as a heaven-sent superhuman--"before the gospel breaks him. It constricts and binds his entire life. It leaves him no room for ambiguity, no refuge in simple humanity. Earl and Tida can't break up, because the gospel has made their family into a model for the "unfortunate" broken homes that produce so many other athletes. Tiger can't fire his lawyer, because the gospel portrays him as a decent and caring young man. Tiger can't be an angry black man — not even for show, not even for money — because the gospel paints him as a gifted black man rewarded by a caring white society. Tiger can't even tell dirty jokes, because the gospel has no place for them, and they will become events if someone reports them, because, in telling them, he does it:

"He blasphemes against himself."

A lot of reading, yes, but well worth the time.